


Charon

by uena



Series: The Sweetest Thing [24]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 06:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5697919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uena/pseuds/uena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charon finds out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [princeyoungjaes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeyoungjaes/gifts).



It is a Monday, and Charon hasn't slept all too well. Gwen, while being an otherwise perfect little baby, has been rather restless for the last couple of nights, due to growing pains, and it was his turn to sleep in the nursery with her. He's still humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star under his breath when he shuffles out into the hall and smack into Athos and Porthos. Well not quite _smack_. Not even _flumpfh_. 

Neither of them notices him, and Charon is too tired to make them. He briefly wonders what Athos is even doing here, then he remembers that there were some finances to be discussed with the Captain. Not that Athos needs a reason to visit, but it's still rather early in the day, and thus an odd time to be leaving again already. 

"See you at home," Athos says to Porthos. He puts his hand on his cheek, pulls him in, and gives him a kiss. On the mouth. Then he leaves. 

Charon stands in the hallway behind them, motionless, and patiently waits for the fog to clear from his brain and the universe to readjust itself. He's just glad Flea isn't around. He's not sure his eardrums could take it. Porthos turns around, finally notices his presence, and looks properly caught. Charon gives him a tired smile. "I just wanted to ask you if you have any special plans for lunch – cause I want to go shopping now." 

Porthos clears his throat. "Did you see -?" 

"Oh yes," Charon confirms, still waiting for the universe to straighten itself out and the morning sun to break out from behind clouds of confusion. 

"Are you gonna tell Flea?" Porthos asks, sounding nervous, and Charon rolls his eyes at him. 

Tired he may be, but stupid he is not. "You bet." Because if he keeps this a secret, and Flea finds out – as she inevitably will – she will also find out that Charon knew and didn't tell her, and then she's going to kill him. Charon couldn't even blame her. He still feels kind of dazed. 

"I'm going shopping now," he repeats, since he doesn't know what else to say, and Porthos nods, puts on his jacket. 

"I'm comin' with you." 

So they dress, and head out, and Charon is aware that Porthos keeps glancing at him from the corner of his eye, but chooses to ignore it. The less he knows the better. They make it down the street and round the corner towards the supermarket in perfect silence. They have a standing delivery order with the owner, but the small stuff they always get themselves. It is a cold day, gratifying Charon by being foggy and wet, matching the state of his brain. He's really glad that Porthos refrains from explaining himself. He's far too tired to listen to lame excuses. 

Of course that's when Porthos decides to open his stupid mouth. "Nothing happened," he has the effrontery to say. "We just … kiss now." 

"Mh-hm," Charon hums, praying for a hole to open up in the middle of the sidewalk he can kick Porthos into. "After over twenty years of not-kissing, that's clearly nothing out of the ordinary." He has no idea how to feel about this. For _decades_ Porthos has insisted that the relationship between him and Athos was purely platonic, that they'd never even _think_ about taking it for a romantic walk in the park. "So," Charon hears himself say, "were you lying to yourself or to everyone else all this time?" 

"A little bit of both," Porthos grumbles. "I'm not sayin' I wasn't happy with how things were, because I was. But I'm also happy with kissin' him." 

"Mh-hm," Charon hums again, softening a bit around the edges. Because he gets it. He really does. He would have been happy with staying Flea's brother, too. Luckily, she had other ideas. Apart from everything else, Charon has a rather shrewd idea that Porthos really isn't the one to blame here. Porthos merely _listened_ when Athos said No to any kind of romance in his life. But since Porthos isn't the kind of man to forsake himself such pleasures, he had to find romance elsewhere – and after much patient searching, he found it in Aramis. 

Charon sighs, and circumnavigates a haphazardly parked bicycle in the middle of the sidewalk, strapped to a lamppost to make sure no-one can remove the obstacle. "Is Aramis happy with it?" he asks; because he has to, at this point. 

"Oh yeah," Porthos says, a soft, shy grin taking over his face. "He kind of made it happen." 

Of course he did, Charon thinks, his mouth curling up at the edges. "So tell me," he says, turning his head to look into Porthos' eyes. "How did he make it happen?" 

Porthos grins at him, sunny and carefree. "Apparently he asked Athos if it was his fault that Athos never kissed me." 

"He would," Charon groans, amused despite himself. "And it's no wonder with the way you let them carry on – always all over each other." 

"Yes, well, I like it," the biggest teddy bear in the universe replies. "They're cute together." 

Charon looks up at the cloudy heavens and silently demands to know what he did to deserve this man in his life. He blinks, finds himself a little more awake than ten minutes earlier, and takes a deep breath. "What now?" 

"What do you mean – what now?" Porthos asks back. 

Charon just _can't_ with him. "What's the plan?" he barks. "What do you intend to do now that you have two boyfriends?" 

Porthos opens his mouth, undoubtedly to say that he doesn't _have_ two boyfriends, that Athos is still his Athos and always will be – and shuts his mouth again. Thank goodness. Charon was afraid he might have to hurt him. 

"Erm," Porthos says then, quite softly for such a bear of a man. "I don't know." 

Charon reaches out to pat his arm, because there's really nothing else he can do. Apart from one thing, maybe. "Do you want to talk about it?" 

Porthos looks at him from the corner of his eye again. "I thought you're tired of the subject?" 

"I was tired of Flea yelling at me to support her point of view," Charon clarifies. "Now that it has turned out that she was right all along I feel like I should get with the program." 

Porthos' expression morphs into a smirk. "She's gonna lose her shit." 

"All of it," Charon agrees. "I might have to move in with you guys for a few days." 

"You're welcome to the guest room," Porthos offers with a little smile. "But there's really not a lot to talk about. It's still the way it was before … Athos 'n I just kiss now." 

"Properly?" Charon asks, almost despite himself, and ducks his head when Porthos glares at him. "You know what I mean! Every kiss is a proper kiss, naturally - I just wanna know if there were any tongues involved, and I CANNOT BELIEVE you're actually making me say this!" 

"No tongues involved," Porthos giggles, pulling Charon into the supermarket with him. 

Charon sighs. Flea will be so disappointed. And if he's being totally honest, so is he.


	2. Chapter 2

"The Captain said you wanted to talk to me?" Flea shows up at the nursery door just when Charon has finally managed to wrestle Gwen into her onesie. For some reason beyond his comprehension Gwen both LOVES wearing a onesie and LOATHES being put into one. It doesn't make sense. But then Flea's current outfit doesn't either, consisting of one of Charon's faded band shirts, frayed jeans-shorts over rainbow coloured tights, and thick woollen socks stuffed into hut shoes. 

She looks charming though – she always does – and inquisitive, with one brow raised high. Charon smiles at her. "Yes, there's something I have to tell you. Come in." 

She makes an intrigued noise and steps into the room, closing the door behind her. "You are being very mysterious." 

"Very," he agrees, hoisting Gwen up from the changing mat and settling her in the crook of his right arm. "Sit." 

Flea snorts and sits down in the armchair by the window, folds her hands demurely in her lap. "This better be good." 

"Oh, it is," Charon mutters under his breath. "Athos and Porthos are kissing now." 

She blinks. "Come again?" 

"Athos and Porthos are kissing now," he repeats dutifully. 

Flea glares at him. "Are you shitting me?" 

"I wouldn't dare," Charon says truthfully. "I caught them this morning. Athos was kissing Porthos goodbye. On the mouth." 

Flea gapes. "For how long has that been going on?" 

Charon clears his throat, uncomfortably aware that he has failed her in his duty. "I didn't ask." 

"You didn't ask?!" 

Flea sounds bewildered, and Charon hoists Gwen a little higher on his chest. "Don't yell at me, I'm carrying a baby." 

That earns him a snort and an affectionate eye roll, and then Flea throws herself back against the armchair. "Unbelievable. After all those years -" She stiffens suddenly, looking rather dismayed. "What about Aramis?" 

"Oh, he's fine with it," Charon soothes her. "He made it happen." 

Flea scrunches up her nose. "What do you mean he made it happen? Why would he make it happen?" 

"Apparently he was confused as to why Athos and Porthos never kissed," Charon informs her. "Just like you." 

"Yes, but I watched them grow up together!" she justifies herself. "I was there, every day, watching them being morons!" 

"He lives with those morons now," Charon reminds her gently. "Getting kisses from both of them." 

Her brow clears. "There's that." She groans suddenly, going completely boneless in the armchair. "I can't believe it finally happened!" She looks like a deflated rubber chicken for a moment, and then she sits back up, holding her arms out. "Give me that baby; and then tell me everything." 

Charon hands Gwen over without a fuss, but he's not sure how to follow the rest of his instructions. "I'm afraid there's not much to tell. They're not kissing properly yet." 

Flea looks aghast. "No tongue?!" 

"No tongue," he confirms gloomily. 

"What the hell, can't these ninnies do anything right?" 

"Apparently not," Charon sighs. "I just hope they don't need another twenty years to get there." 

Flea sighs and bounces Gwen in her lap. "I mean I get it. _I do_. Athos hasn't kissed anyone in – oh God, how long has it been? and I know that it was never any good for him, but blast it all to hell, I always thought -" 

"One kiss to break the spell?" Charon guesses, crouching down before the armchair. "True Love's First Kiss changing it all?" 

"Something like that," she mutters, looking frustrated. "Real life sucks." 

Charon smiles up at her and puts his hand on her knee. "They don't seem to think so. They're happy." 

She sighs and closes her eyes. "I suppose I have to live with that." 

"Yeah," he grins, "you do. Athos demanded the first kiss, by the way." 

Her left eye peeks open. "He did?" 

"Oh yes. He watched Aramis and Porthos kiss, right in front of his nose, and then he held on to Porthos and said, I quote, _Me too_." 

Gwen squeaks delightedly, and so does Flea. "He never!" 

"Well, Porthos said he did, and I have no reason to doubt him," Charon says, squeezing her knee. "And from what I've seen this morning, Athos seems rather insistent on catching up on all the kisses he's missed over the years. He positively pulled Porthos in." 

"Oh, I like that!" Flea declares, bouncing Gwen once more before pulling her in for a cuddle. 

That's when the door to the nursery opens, and the Captain steps inside. "What's this I'm hearing about Athos and Porthos kissing?" 

Charon goggles at him. "How -?" 

"The children know everything," the Captain replies solemnly, a twinkle in his eye. 

Charon grins at him. "Well – they're right. Athos and Porthos are kissing now." 

The Captain nods approvingly. "About time. I knew there was something different about Athos this morning. Aramis is delighted, I assume?" 

"Very," Charon chuckles, standing up and taking Gwen from Flea so she can get up from the armchair. "Now it's time to put the little one to bed." 

"Let me," the Captain asks, stepping forward to relieve Charon of his bundle of joy. "You get a proper night's sleep. Don't think I didn't see you nod off over dessert." 

Gwen babbles in delight and makes a grab for the Captain's chin, and he directs a stern glare at Flea. "You know what that means, yes? Let the man sleep tonight." 

She sticks out her tongue at him and takes Charon's hand, pulling him out of the room. "Oh, I _will_. But first he'll have to make us both very happy." 

The Captain laughs, and Charon closes the door behind them, favouring Flea with a sleepy grin. "As long as all I have to do is lie there, I'm not complaining." 

She snorts and gently pushes him up against the hall wall, steps in front of him and goes on her tip toes to give him a kiss. He leans in and closes his eyes, relaxing against her the way he always does. She feels warm and familiar in his arms, and he holds her tight even when they are no longer kissing. With a house full of children moments like this one are few and far between, and thus all the more precious. He feels her sigh, and then she brushes a kiss against the hollow of his throat, makes him go warm. "Are you really too tired?" 

"I am really tired," he replies, grinning to himself. She slaps his hip. "But not too tired," he amends. 

She giggles. "Athos claims we're a bad example for the kids." 

"Porthos says we're doing great," Charon mumbles. "I'm with him on this one." 

"Athos only says that to annoy me anyway," Flea whispers, brushing another kiss to Charon's neck. "It's his way to display affection." 

Charon snorts. "He must like you a lot." 

Flea presses closer to him. "He does. Not as much as he likes Porthos though." 

"Of course not," Charon agrees, lifting his hand to bury it in her hair. "He could never like anyone as much as he likes Porthos … apart from Aramis, maybe." 

"Definitely Aramis," Flea corrects him, and then she takes his hand, and pulls him to their room.


End file.
